Vodafone CEO backs Sarkozy to police the internet.

THE CEO of mobile phone flogger Vodafone, Vittorio Colao is backing Nicolas Sarkozy's call for a government regulated internet.

Colao wrote an open letter in the Financial Times sucking up to Sarkozy's desire to police the internet and lambasted Google and Facebook's call for an open internet free from rules. Those rules are, of course, implemented by big media conglomerates enforcing their collective will through rubber-stamped local legislation like the UK's ill-conceived Digital Economy Act (DEA).

"So Mr Sarkozy is really right to argue that realising the full potential of the internet will also require an effective legal framework and that self-regulation will not be enough," wrote Colao.

Attempting to play the freedom card with a bizarre twist of logic, Colao claimed that an open internet would actually somehow lead to infringement of "privacy, human and social rights".

Colao also slated by implication other network operators like BT and Talktalk for appealing against corrupt legislation like the DEA. He said that rules that make network operators block filesharers for alleged copyright infringement should be rolled out to other areas.

"Extending this to areas such as privacy, citizens' security and consumer protection would offer a powerful incentive for all companies to comply with national laws, and so provide a basis for consumers to seek the protection of their law when they feel the need for it," he said.

So, if we tilt the planet askance to understand Colao's views, Vodafone is a bastion of freedom, protecting the internet, operators and the public with support for laws bought up by big media cartels, to be enforced by a police state that serves their interests. µ